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Bertrand Stewart
| birth_place = 38 Eaton Place London, England | death_place = Near the River Vesle Battle of the Marne | placeofburial = Braisne Communal Cemetery A3 | placeofburial_coordinates = | image = Captain Bertrand STEWART 1872-1914.jpg|alt=Captain Bertrand STEWART portrait photograph taken c1905. He is dressed in his British Army uniform | image_size=250px | caption = | commands = Queen's Own West Kent Yeomanry | allegiance = United Kingdom | serviceyears = | rank = Captain | commands = | battles = | awards = Queen's South Africa Medal | spouse = Amy Daphne, daughter of Lt.-Colonel George Kendall Priaulx | relations = | laterwork = Spy, solicitor }} Bertrand Stewart (December 1872 – 18 September 1914) worked as a solicitor in London and was also a military officer in the Queen's Own West Kent Yeomanry, he fought in the Second Boer War and World War I. In between the two wars he volunteered to spy on German naval actions. He was famously arrested in Germany on August 2, 1911 and sentenced to four years in prison. Stewart and another British spy, Captain Trench, were pardoned and released by the German Kaiser as a present to Ernest Augustus the Duke of Brunswick when Augustus married the Kaiser's daughter, Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia. He died fighting off a German attack near the River Vesle during the Battle of the Marne. Early life Stewart went to school at Eton (Durnford’s House). In 1897 he graduated from law school and was admitted as a solicitor. He then became employed at the firm of Markby, Stewart & Co., of Coleman Street, London. Military career and spy craft When the Boer War started Bertrand joined the West Kent as a Private. He fought in British operations at Cape Colony, Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal. In 1906 he became an officer in the Queen's Own West Kent Yeomanry. In 1911 Stewart volunteered to spy on Germany while pretending to be a tourist. He was arrested after receiving a code book from a turned German double agent. Stewart had accomplices but he was the only one arrested in Bremen. At the time he was trying to gain information about the defenses of the East Frisian islands and Weser estuary. Stewart was tried by the Supreme Court of the Empire at Leipzig on January 31, 1912. After four days he was found guilty and sentenced to three and a half years in the Glatz Fortress. Stewart and another British spy, Captain Trench, were pardoned and released by the German Kaiser as a present to Ernest Augustus the Duke of Brunswick when Augustus married the Kaiser's daughter, Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia. (They married on 24 May 1913). Stewart was annoyed at his capture and sued the UK government for £12,500 for damage to his health. Some consider Stewart to have been a fantasist.Bertrand Stewart, Christ Church College, Oxford University, retrieved 23 September 2014 When the Great War started he was quickly given a position in the Intelligence Department on the Staff of Major General Allenby. During the Battle of the Marne in the opening months of the war his unit was facing fierce German attacks and he grabbed a rifle and went to help the men at the front lines. He was found dead by future author and member of the same unit Frederick Coleman near the River Vesle. Notes Citations Bibliography * * - Total pages: 544 * - Total pages: 160 * Category:1872 births Category:1914 deaths Category:People from Belgravia Category:British colonial army officers Category:British military personnel of the Second Boer War Category:British military personnel killed in World War I Category:British spies Category:Pre–World War I spies Category:People convicted of spying Category:Incarcerated spies Category:Prisoners and detainees of Germany Category:British people imprisoned abroad Category:Recipients of German royal pardons Category:Queen's Own West Kent Yeomanry officers Category:World War I spies for the United Kingdom